It is widely expected that there will be a UK general election this year and obviously that will impact us all.

Labour is pledged, and as we write this we are aware of Kier Stammer’s track record of reneging on promises, to boost the rights of unions and individual workers. If they delivered on those promises, and the labour movement would have to exert pressure to ensure this happened, then that would create a space for unions that does not exist under the Conservative party. 

Of course, despite the huge poll leads, the Conservatives might win. It is clear that they intend to run on a racist and xenophobic ticket, attacking migrants, attacking trans people, attacking unions etc. The Labour movement, therefore, even in a non-affiliated unions such as the PCS, should take part in the election campaign to defend basic democratic norms and values.

Of much lesser import, but nevertheless in the small world of PCS of importance, Mark Serwotka will soon leave and Fran Heathcote will become the General Secretary.

The Independent Left has predicted that without the anchor of Mr Serwotka, Left Unity will become even more right wing than it is now – by the way, claiming you are left wing does not mean you are.

We saw it in the GS and AGS election the beginning of red baiting where LU started to distinguish between the members and activists, claiming that at least some activists were not representative and we certainly saw Mark Serwotka developing an argument that some branches had no right to speak because they did not deliver on the ballot.  

As we pointed out at the time, Mr. Serwotka completely ignored the fact that his allies in the MOJ and elsewhere did not reballot because they knew they could not win. Obviously he kept quiet about them.

Nevertheless, despite his many faults, he kept Left Unity on a sort of trade union orientation. Without him, then all that keeps LU together is an intense dislike of the Socialist Party, the desire to remain in office and obviously for some, to become very well-paid full-time officials. How strong this glue is, we will see but certainly does not give Left Unity any guide to action.

Therefore, we predict not only a rapid right-wing trajectory, but actually that they will be clueless in the face not only of a general election, but also if the Labour party is actually elected.

They will default to a vapid leftism that was fully on display in Fran Heathcote’s article in Labour List.

In that, the GS elect gets herself into a contradiction by claiming:

This approach was visible during our successful national campaign in 2023, when we beat the government’s pay policy after combining huge national days of strike action with targeted actions across a number of employers. I was proud to be PCS president during this historic campaign. Our members showed how effective industrial action can be, winning an increased pay remit, a one-off £1,500 cost-of-living payment and guarantees on redundancy terms. 

Yet she admits:

And even though they are responsible for providing essential public services, they haven’t had a real-terms pay rise for more than 11 years.

So, we have beaten the government’s pay policy but at the same time, for 11 years, whilst Left Unity has been in total control of the union, no members have seen a real-terms pay increase. That doesn’t add up.

She adds:

Among my own colleagues in the DWP, one in five are claiming in-work benefits. There are stories of members being unable to afford to switch on the heating or to feed their kids – and these are government employees. This is a damning indictment of the Tories and their policies of immiseration (what does that say also of the union of which she has been the lead union lay official for year or Mark Serwotka?).

So we beat the government but still many members are suffering immiseration, so much so that they have to claim benefits. Again all this does not add up.

In reality, PCS got the lowest pay increase in the public sector and the only pay problem Ms Heathcoat has solved is her own as she goes from being an EO in DWP to getting £74K as GS.

Despite all this she claims:

As a union that is not affiliated to the party, we will hold Sir Keir Starmer’s feet to the fire

But we have not even slightly toasted the toes of the current government!

The GS elect ends her article by stating ‘Enough is enough’. We feel the same way about an LU dominated PCS.

Whilst Ms Heathcoate will be the GS that does not mean we have to resign ourselves to her controlling the union. Given the outcome of the AGS and GS elections, there now is the possibility that the Left Unity NEC can be defeated. Whether that happens, obviously will depend upon discussions between the various groupings of activists and independence that now exists within the union. The Independent Left will play its full role in those discussions